﻿ More Returned Voicemails | Kill The Cold Call™

More Returned Voicemails


In this 7-minute video I share two things that can be changed about how you leave voicemails to increase the amount that are returned; and one other sales-thought to think about.




Hey there,

This is Andrew Schiestel, and I want to chat with you today about how to leave voicemails that, when leaving them, you’re going to increase dramatically the amount of return calls that you get. Obviously, that’s an important element of sales, because if you can have more people return your calls, and if you create ample phone calls in a given year, you’re going to make more money. It’s an important topic.

For this conversation, distinguish a couple things. I’m not speaking about when leaving voicemails in a cold setting, so like, a cold call. I’m also not speaking about leaving voicemails with someone you have a very close relationship with, where there’s almost a social expectation that the person returns the call. I’m speaking about in-between those two ends of the spectrum. I’m speaking about someone who’s an acquaintance in the community. There may be mutual respect. You know with a high degree of likelihood you can probably help them with the services you offer, but here’s no guarantee they’re going to return your call, but it’s important that you chat with them. It’s that kind of person.

Years ago, when I would leave voicemails, I’d oftentimes share why I was leaving the voicemail. Nowadays, in the last couple years, I’ve dramatically reduced the length of my voicemail, actually leaving out why I’m calling. I watched the actual number of people who return the calls as a percentage dramatically go up compared to several years ago. The only major difference is, I’ve removed the why.

When you leave why you’re calling in a sales setting, I’ve given this a little bit of thought, I think what’s occurring is two big things. One of two big things. There could be some other things, but I think there’s two big things that are commonly at play for why someone doesn’t return the voicemail.

The first thing is that they may not, when you leave why you’re calling, it gives the recipient an opportunity to de-prioritize returning your call. They might even have the intention of returning your call, because there may be that mutual respect there, but if they don’t need your services, they may not return your call. They can make that decision because you’ve already told them why you’re calling in the voicemail. That’s the first thing. It allows someone to de-prioritize returning your call too easily.

The other thing is fear. A lot of people have an aversion to receiving sales calls. Most people are fine in the vice versa, when they’re actually reaching out to a salesperson, when they need something, but when they’re on the receiving end of a sales call, many people are psychologically opposed. They have an aversion to that. I think that doesn’t help the situation either. When leaving voicemails, don’t share why you’re calling.

The next thing, have you ever had a voicemail? I’m sure this happened to you many times over the years, where you received this voicemail from someone, and let’s say, you know this person outside of that phone call. You’ve met the person before, you’ve chatted with them on the phone, and their voice on the voicemail is higher than it normally is. You know what I mean? There’s a pitch, or it’s an extra octave up. You’re thinking to yourself, you’re like, “This person’s calling for a sales-oriented reason. They haven’t even told you why they’re calling, but you just know. You don’t even have all the information, can’t even see them, but you know. You can’t even see the mannerisms, but you know based on their tone. People get nervous. That’s probably one reason why they that may happen, but I think more commonly, many people try to sell the recipient, so who they’re calling, on returning the voicemail. They’re actually trying to sell them to get the return call. I don’t recommend that.

I don’t recommend that. That is not the time to try to sell someone on something. The best thing to do is be friendly and natural when leaving a voicemail. Be sincere, but be friendly and natural. It’s something I had to work on and train myself over time. I try to be very natural. I try to picture the person that I’m speaking to. That’s helped a lot. One person, I can visualize a person a few feet away, and I’m just chatting with them. The third thing I want to leave you with today is, this is a thought I had recently, when leaving voice… You can actually look at leaving voicemails and the responses you get as a key performance indicator to measure how you’re doing as a microcelebrity. A microcelebrity, to give you background, is, I go into detail as to what it is, how you become one, in my forthcoming book, “Kill the Cold Call”, but for the sake of today’s conversation, a microcelebrity is basically a status you can methodically achieve, and when you achieve that, you have a much easier ability of getting leads and sales into your business. It’s like a magnet versus not being a microcelebrity. That’s a night and day difference. You can actually, I realize, use the voicemail, the returning of a voicemail, as a measurement to see how you’re doing in becoming or being a microcelebrity, which is kind of neat as well, to measure your progress along the way. If somebody’s calling? If somebody’s not calling you, that’s a great measurement. They haven’t really received that yet, in most cases, that perception in that person’s mind.

In summary: Don’t share why you’re calling as a tip. Be friendly and natural, and use leaving voicemails and the receiving of calls from your voicemails as a measurement to see how you’re doing in being or becoming a microcelebrity. I hope today’s conversation was helpful. If you have anything you want to add, if  have comments or questions, leave them in the comments section below. I love to hear from you, and it’s always great to connect. I look forward to engaging with you again in the future.

Take care.

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